Apparatus for conveying ice lumps from an ice lump source to a plurality of remote locations is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,889. U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,241 also discloses apparatus for conveying ice lumps from an ice lump source to a plurality of remote locations. However, the conveying apparatus disclosed in these U.S. patent specifications, as well as other conveying apparatus of the prior art, have been found to be unsatisfactory. Most ice lump conveying apparatus tend to be relatively complex, relatively noisy, require excessive energy and cause excessive melting of the ice lumps. In the conveying apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,241 a conveying conduit extends between the ice lump source and the remote locations. A main conduit extends from the ice lump source, and a plurality of secondary conduits connected to the main conduit deliver the ice lumps to respective remote locations. Diverter valves connect the secondary conduits to the main conduit. Storage bins are provided at the remote locations for receiving the ice lumps and the ice lump source is provided by an ice maker. In the apparatus of this U.S. specification, conveying air is continuously delivered through the main conduit for conveying the ice lumps to the remote location. The conveying air is delivered into the main conduit by an air blower. On ice being required, a diverter valve diverts the ice lumps into the secondary conduit, which conveys the ice lumps to the appropriate storage bin. In this apparatus, air is recirculated to the source.
In the conveying apparatus of this U.S. specification, the air and ice lumps are continuously and simultaneously fed into and through the conveying conduit until a demand for ice lumps has been satisfied.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,889 discloses substantially similar apparatus to that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,877,241. In the conveying apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,104,889 conveying air and ice lumps are continuously and simultaneously fed into and through the conveying conduit until a demand for ice at a remote location has been satisfied.
These conveying apparatus suffer from the disadvantages already described, in that they require excessive energy, they cause deterioration of the ice lumps and are unsuitable for delivering ice lumps over relatively long distances.
There is therefore a need for a conveying apparatus which overcomes these problems.
The present invention is directed towards providing a method and conveying apparatus for conveying ice lumps from an ice lump source to a remote location. The invention is also directed towards providing a holding device for holding a batch of ice lumps for use in conveying apparatus. The invention is further directed towards metering apparatus for metering a quantity of ice lumps, and the invention is also directed towards a separator for separating ice lumps from a conveying medium.